Google Glass™
Note: The Wearable Widgets client on Glass has been deprecated since Google shut down the Glass Explorer program. As far as we know, it still works, but no further development resources will be spent on it until such time as Glass re-emerges as a consumer product.
The content below is from when Glass was a supported product, and is being kept available for reference purposes only. No attempt is planned to keep it updated.
Wearable Widgets runs as a LiveCard on Glass, meaning that it's always available to the left of the home screen.
You'll be surprised just how useful it is to have a widget on Glass!
To make this happen, you’ll need a Wearable Widgets app on both your Glass and the Android phone that it’s paired with. Step-by-step instructions:
- Install the phone app from Google Play by clicking the link and pressing the green Install button you’ll find there.
-
We’ve submitted our Glassware to Google for inclusion in the MyGlass directory, but it has not yet been
approved. So for the time being, you’ll need to enable direct loading of apps
onto your Glass:
- Swipe left to Settings, and tap to open
- Swipe right to Device info, and tap to open
- Swipe right to Turn on debug, and tap to activate
- Plug your Glass into a USB port on your computer
-
After doing that, the easiest way to install our Glassware is through
our listing at MarketForGlass.com.
Just follow that link, hit the correct button to download the installer to your computer, and it'll
load the app onto your Glass.
Advanced users: If you're comfortable with sideloading through ADB, you can skip the installer and download the WidgetsForGlass APK directly from here.
When you have both pieces installed, you invoke it with "OK Glass… Show me a widget", and the widget you've configured on your phone will be displayed on your Glass. You can interact with the widget by tapping on it, then selecting Tap & Swipe: select your tap point by moving your head, and if the widget supports scrolling, you can do so with a standard Glass forward or backward swipe.
Multiple Widgets on Glass
Unfortunately, we've had to remove multiple widget support on Glass from version 4.1 (and higher) of Wearable Widgets. Google has conveyed to us that charging for this upgrade is in violation of the official Glass Platform Developer Policies, which state:
You may not charge end users any fees or collect any payments in order to download or access your Glassware, or in connection with virtual goods or functionality of your Glassware.
Charging a small fee for using additional widgets is how we've financed the development of this app, and it isn't fair to users of other wearables to charge them while giving the same functionality away to Glass users for free, so we saw no option but to disable it. We're sincerely sorry that this limitation is necessary, and will definitely revisit it if Google changes their terms in the future.
In the meanwhile, if you purchased the multiple-widget upgrade for use on Glass, please email us and we'll happily issue you a full refund.
Uninstalling
If you want to remove Wearable Widgets from your Glass, for now you'll also use ADB, the same tool used to sideload it in the first place. The command you'll need is:
adb uninstall com.wearablewidgets.glass
After our app is approved by Google, this low-level approach will no longer be necessary – you'll be able to manage it Wearable Widgets from your MyGlass console on PC or phone.
Update History
Because our Glassware component is separate from our main Android app, it has its own release schedule. The following table lists the updates that it's had.
| Version | Date | Summary of Changes |
|---|---|---|
| 1.1 | 8 Jun 2014 |
|
| 1.0 | 1 Jun 2014 |
|
| 0.7 | 17 Apr 2014 |
|
| 0.6 | 9 Apr 2014 |
|
| 0.5 | 1 Apr 2014 |
|
| 0.4 | 18 Mar 2014 |
|
| 0.3 | 11 Mar 2014 |
|
| 0.2 | 4 Mar 2014 |
|
| 0.1 | 4 Mar 2014 |
